Chapter 3
Consciousness
and the TwoTrack Mind
Syllabus
Exam2
8, 9, 10 Consciousness
18, 19, 20 Sensation & Percep
Syllabus
Exam3
29,30,31,32 Intelligence
11,12,13
Nature/Nurture
46,47,48
Personality
Chapter Topics
1. Defining Consciousness
Dual-track mind
2. Sleep and Dreams
3. Drugs and Consciousness
Consciousness is…
 alertness; being awake
vs. being unconscious
 self-awareness; the
ability to think about
self
 having free will; being
able to make a
“conscious” decision
 a person’s mental
content, thoughts, and
imaginings
To explore the nature of
consciousness, it helps to
first choose a definition.
In the text, consciousness
is defined as:
“our awareness of
ourselves and our
environment.”
Aren’t animals aware of their
environment?
If so, is our awareness different?...
Possibly…because we have
(uniquely?) a narrative experience
of that awareness.
Are animals “conscious”?
2012 Cambridge Declaration
on Consciousness
“Convergent evidence indicates that nonhuman animals have the
neuroanatomical, neurochemical and
neurophysiologial substrates of conscious
states, along with the capacity to exhibit
intentional behaviours.”
Forms of Consciousness
http://jezebel.com/5859785/watch
-the-worlds-first-movie-of-thefemale-brain-during-orgasm
Forms of Consciousness
Psychology’s Relationship to this Topic
Psychology was once
defined as “the description
and explanation of states of
consciousness.”
Now, consciousness is just
one topic among many for
psychologists.
Cognitive
neuroscience
allows us to
revisit this topic
and see how the
brain is involved.
Brain and
Consciousness:
Findings and Debates
Finding
Some rare
“unconscious” patients
have brain responses to
conversation.
Implication
Don’t judge a book
by its cover when it
comes to
consciousness.
Debate
What is going on
in the brain that
generates our
experience of
consciousness?
One View
Synchronized, coordinated
brain activity generates
consciousness, or at least
is a sign that conscious
activity is occurring.
Conscious vs. Unconscious Activity:
The Dual-Track Mind
Conscious “high” track:
our minds take deliberate
actions we know we are
doing
Examples: problem solving,
naming an object, defining a
word
Conscious:
“I saw a bird!”
Unconscious:
Unconscious “low” track:
our minds perform automatic
actions, often without being
aware of them
Examples: walking, acquiring
phobias, processing sensory
details into perceptions and
memories
Think before you act?
 Libet (1985)
 Brain activity BEFORE conscious
of wanting to push the button
Think before you act?
Why Have Two Tracks?
Benefit?
SLOW
FAST
Thinking  Action
Perception  Action
controlled processing
automatic processing
Examples
 You can hit or catch a ball without having to consciously
calculate its trajectory.
 You can speak without having to think about the definitions
of each word.
 You can walk and chew gum AND carry on a conversation.
Unusual Consequences of Having a
Dual-Track Mind
Blindsight
Selective
Attention
Selective
Inattention
 Inattentional
blindness
 Change blindness
 Choice blindness
Blindsight
Case Study
A woman with brain
damage, but NO eye
damage, was unable to
use her eyes to report
what was in front of her.
BUT, she was able to use
her eyes to help her take
actions such as putting
mail in slots.
What are the two
mental “tracks” in this
case?
Describing the mail and
the slot:
the “high road,” or
conscious track, in this
case known as the
visual perception track
Judging size and distance
well enough to put the
mail in the slot:
the “low road,” or
unconscious, automatic
track, in this case known
as the visual action track
Blindsight
Hollow Face Illusion
Perception versus Action
Kroliczak et al. (2006)
Selective Attention
 millions of information bits
every second.
 Selective attention
 e.g., Cocktail Party Effect
Selective Attention and
Social Conversation
 Good news: focus on a
conversation
 Bad news: Inattention
blindness to serious
threats
 DrP’s “wasp” story
 Cellphones and Texting
 Distracted driving: huge
problem….
Selective Attention
Texting Is Really Recent: 2008
Texting instantly
became
Huge
Peak Texting Frequency (UW)
Peak Texting Frequency (2013)
Typical day: Receive (2013)
Texting While Driving
Texting While Driving
48%
16%
Texting While Driving
36%
12%
Texting While Driving
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz90K20Dufk
Texting While Driving
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz90K20Dufk
Selective Attention:
what we focus on,
what we notice
Selective Inattention:
what we are not focused
on, what we do not notice
Selective inattention refers to our
failure to notice part of our
environment when our attention is
directed elsewhere.
Selective Inattention:
 inattentional blindness
 change blindness
 choice blindness
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=VkrrVozZR2c
Inattentional Blindness
 Various experiments show that when our attention is
focused, we miss seeing what others may think is
obvious to see (such as a gorilla, or a unicyclist).
 Some “magic” tricks take advantage of this
phenomenon.
Change Blindness
The Switch
Two-thirds of people didn’t
notice when the person they
were giving directions to was
replaced by a similar-looking
person.
By the way, did you notice
whether the replacement
person was in the same
clothes or different clothes?
Choice Blindness
In one experiment, people chose their favorite among
two jams. But when the jar’s contents were
deceptively reversed and tasted again, people
described the same jar’s contents as their chosen jam.
The researcher flips the divided containers, so that the next
taste from that jar is actually the other jam.
And now, to
SLEEP-perchance,
to Dream
Sleep as a State of Consciousness
When sleeping, are we fully
unconscious and “dead to
the world”?
Or is the window to
consciousness open?
Consider that:
 we move around, but how do
we stop ourselves from falling
out of bed?
 we sometimes incorporate
real-world noises into our
dreams.
 some noises (our own baby’s
cry) wake us more easily than
others.
How Do We Learn About
Sleep and Dreams?
 We can monitor EEG/brain
waves and muscle
movements during sleep.
 We can expose the
sleeping person to noise
and words, and then
examine the effects on the
brain (waves) and mind
(memory).
 We can wake people and
see which mental state
(e.g. dreaming) goes with
which brain/body state.
Sleep and
Biological
Rhythms
 24 hour biological
“clock”
 90 minute sleep
cycle
Understanding Biological Rhythms
 Biological rhythms
A periodic, more or less regular fluctuation in
a biological system; may or may not have
psychological implications
 Entrainment
Biological rhythms are synchronized with
external events such as changes in clock
time, temperature, and daylight
 Circadian Rhythms
Occur about every 24 hours
Example: The sleep-wake cycle
 Infradian Rhythms
Occur less often than once a day
Examples: birds migrating, bears hibernating
 Ultradian Rhythms
 greater than 1/day, e.g., about every 90min
eg: stomach contractions and hormone levels
Circadian Rhythms
 "Circa" (around), "-dias" (day)
Human cycle=24-25 hours
Controlled by: "biological clocks"
Suprachiasmic Nucleus (in hypothal.)
Light--Optic Nerve--SCN-->hormones
Adapts body to environment cycles
Light > retina > suprachiasmatic nucleus
> pineal gland > secretion of melatonin
Melatonin regulates circadian rhythm
50
51
Which bird are you?
A
B
C
D
Night bird
Morning bird
Odd bird
Big Bird
( OWL )
( LARK )
(Ardvark)
Circadian Rhythms
 Your degree of alertness depends
where you are in your circadian rhythm.
Are you are morning person or
an evening person?
Morningness-Eveningness
Alertness is correlated with temperature
temperature average peak/trough:
Highest at 8pm, Lowest at 6am
Individual differences
Lark (morning) vs Owl (evening)
very stable over time
changes with age
wide individual differences (16-50 hr cycles)
Morningness-Eveningness
Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire
 -0.50 correlation with daily body temp peak
Watts (1982): match improves relationship
quality
Monk & Leng (1986): test time matching
improves mental performance (reasoning,
serial search tasks)
Morningness-Eveningness
Bodenhausen (1990)
mismatched showed higher stereotyping
cognitive load is higher
less cog resources = schematic thinking
Kruglanski & Pierro (2008)
Tested Freud’s concept of transference
Freud.Unctrans= deep emotional activation
Cog.Unc trans= simple memory screw-up
Morningness-Eveningness
Kruglanski & Pierro (2008)
Cog.Unc trans= simple memory screw-up
Owl/Larks can help test which is correct.
Prediction:
Higher “transference” when tested
during mismatched time of day.
(i.e, opposite to Owl-Lark score)
Kruglanski & Pierro (2008)
 Time1:
 “List traits of a signif. person in your life.”
 “ SO Traits”
 Time2:
Test Evening OR Morning.
Given description of testing partner (traits)
Memory quiz: Which were traits of partner?
Prediction? Mismatched group will show
more false alarms for SO Traits
Kruglanski & Pierro (2008)
Cunia et al. (2014)
Cunia et al. (2014)
 Honesty requires self-control
 Self-control is related to alertness
Q:
Does chronotype affect honesty?
 Time of day  ethicality ?
 Time of day x Chronotype  ethicality ?
Cunia et al. (2014)
 Study:
 Online questionnaire (Owl-Lark)
 ALSO “Roll dice” to enter a lottery
 Self-report dice result (might lie!)
 Actual dice result recorded secretly.
 Results:
 Chronotype x Time of Day interaction !
Lying? Larks in evening, Owls in morning.
Fig. 1. Results for Study 2: mean reported die roll as a function of session for morning and
evening people.
Gunia B C et al. Psychological Science
2014;0956797614541989
Copyright © by Association for Psychological Science
Menstrual Cycles and Mood
 Does the menstrual cycle influence
women’s mood at certain times?
 Yes, physical symptoms are common
 No, emotional symptoms are rare
Irritability and depression
Fewer than 5% of women
Premenstrual dysphoric disorder
(PMDD)
Cause? Leading theory= Serotonin drop
From changes in progesterone, estrogen, and
testosterone changes in late luteal phase
Variants in the estrogen receptor alpha gene
that are associated with PMDD
Variants in COMT gene (mood regulator)
Abnormal sensitivity to their own natural
hormone changes.
Symptoms do correlate with drop in serotonin
precursors (in brain) as measured by PET
SSRIs work, supports serotonin theory
Research Conclusions about “PMS”
 No gender differences
exist in monthly mood
 No relation between
menstrual cycle and
mood !
 No consistent “PMS”
pattern exists across
menstrual cycles
 No connection exists
between “PMS” and
behaviour
Why Women Overestimate “PMS”
Selective attention: Notice depression or
irritability when occurs premenstrually but
overlook times when moods are absent
Selective attribution: prementrual irritability to
mentruation but attribute it to other things at
other times.
Influenced by normative beliefs about PMS
CONFIRMATION BIAS
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
 Depression that is seasonal (winter)
 Fatigue as winter approaches
 Depression onset in winter
 Spring… symptoms go away
Cause ?
Hyper-reactive circadian regulation of
serotonin
Darkness  Melatonin
Melatonin lowers  serotonin
Low serotonin  depression
SAD Treatment
 Time outdoors
 Brighter illumination in home & workplaces
 Exercise, (particularly outdoors)
 Fruits and vegetables
 Light therapy (phototherapy)
 Anti-depressants
 Cognitive therapy
Phototherapy
Night Work, Sleeping, & Health
 Jet Lag stressful, cortisol is elevated
 Rotating night shifts are much worse than
constant night shift
 As study of railroad engineers found 60% had
dozed off at the controls during night trips.
 20-30% of traffic accidents per/year are
associated with driver sleepiness or fatigue
Effect of napping or coffee
 Horne & Rayner
(1996)
 Driving Simulator
 15-min break
 Caffeine vs Nap
vs Placebo
RESULT
Caffeine & nap both significantly reduced line
crossing (compared to placebo)